Love, Peace and Happiness and lots of Hugs for a Treasure Hunter at Barleston

"It is a real credit to the finder for treating the
discovery so responsibly and reporting it correctly".

(Councillor Terry Follows, Stoke-on-Trent City Council
cabinet member for greener city, development and leisure)

Cllr Follows

Kerry.Ashdown 'Barlaston field yields more than 2,000 pieces of Roman treasure'  December 13, 2016

More than 2,000 Roman artefacts including coins have been declared treasure after being unearthed in Barlaston. Metal detectorist Stephen Squire made the discovery in a field in his home village. [...]  He contacted the British archaeology [sic] liaison officer for the West Midlands, but after waiting an hour and a half he realised he excavated the coins himself. [...] Councillor Terry Follows [...]  said: "This is a significant find because of the number of coins involved. They were found in broken pottery vessels just one metre below ground.  [...] Margaret Jones, North Staffordshire assistant coroner who oversaw the case, confirmed Mr Squire's find as treasure. She said: "[...] I hope that the coins bring you much happiness

That the context and associations were not properly documented is indicated by rejection of some of the finds from this excavation: 'A piece of copper alloy metal, an iron tool and a crucible of lead were also uncovered but were found to be of a much later date'. (A 'crucible of lead' is that what the PAStexplorers volunteer said?) . Yet the treasure hunter was digging into an archaeological context, represented by the broken ceramics surrounding his 'target' "just one metre down" because he was frustrated in his expectation that an entire archaeological team could be out in a field with all their kit at his beck and call in less than an hour and a half.